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Building effective
teams is a common challenge for most businesses. How do you
assemble the right mix of people and expertise to deliver the
most efficient and effective outcome?

Sometimes, the things business owners believe matter most aren't
really priorities in building great
teams, says Richard E. Spoon, founder of Lafayette, La.-based
business consulting firm ArchPoint Consulting. Spoon, who spent
more than 17 years at Campbell Soup Company and Procter &
Gamble, advises his clients to focus on three key areas before
staffing a team.

1. Clear direction.
Sometimes, companies are in such a hurry to move on their
projects that they pull together groups of people without first
deciding on the goals and desired outcomes, says Spoon. In his
book, Team Renaissance: The Art, Science and
Politics of Great Teams (Old Man River Publishing,
2013), he explains that without a clear sense of what the team
needs to accomplish and how a successful outcome will be
defined, it's impossible to assemble the right group of people
to get there.

Start at the end point: What is the outcome you want and why?
Leave the team some flexibility to develop the best way to get
there.

2. Efficient practices.
Once you know what you want to achieve, the next step is to look
at the best way to proceed with the work, Spoon says. Look at the
workflow and resources available to help you understand the scope
of the project and what support the team will need to be
successful.

Is your organization prepared to support the team in its
objectives? Will they have the right tools and resources to
complete their tasks? How will you measure their efficiency
during the process and monitor it for improvement? These are
important questions to ask upfront to ensure that the team will
be as effective as possible.

3. Defined roles.
Roles might shift somewhat once the team is assembled, but
understand the skill sets and thinking styles are needed on the
team. If a team needs to develop a new product for market, that
team will need a detail-oriented person (the task-master), who is
methodical and can keep the team on track.

The explorer will be more of a big-picture thinker who can help
the team see what is possible. The number-cruncher will take
charge of measurement and metrics. It's possible your team will
have other roles to fill, but you should have a good handle on
those roles before you begin staffing.

Once you have a plan for those basics, begin choosing the
strongest team members to carry out the project. While
personalities are typically secondary concerns, team members do
need the basics to be successful, he says. "[A successful team]
starts with a purpose and good structure before anything else,"
he says.